Enterprise Workplace Strategies are Holding Back Productivity According to Fujitsu Survey

Fujitsu EMEIA

News facts:

Research commissioned by Fujitsu and conducted by independent analyst Pierre Audoin Consultants (PAC) shows that enterprises have a long way to go to in readying their workplace environment to meet future demands

Current workplaces fall short in several areas, with outdated business practices and technology restricting flexibility and agility

Many aspects of workplace technology, security in particular, are seen a barrier rather than an enabler to employee productivity

Fujitsu Forum Munich, ноября 07, 2017
- Despite plans to overhaul their current strategies to meet the new demands of the future workforce and changing business environment, enterprises are falling short, reveals a survey1 undertaken for Fujitsu by leading independent European research firm Pierre Audoin Consultants (PAC). The survey also highlights that many current workplace strategies are proving to be barriers to progress rather than enablers, with security in particular blamed for holding back productivity.

Findings reveal that in addition to security, the most significant shortcomings that organizations need to address in order to ready their workplace for the future are outdated legacy technology and workplace environments that are unable to support new ways of working. The study raises concerns over organizations’ current workplace strategies and their impact on retaining and attracting new employees.

Ramanan Ramakrishna, Head of Service Innovation and Portfolio at Fujitsu EMEIA, states: “We’re at the cusp of a workplace revolution. The foundations that business lay now, both in terms of technology and cultural change, will affect their competitiveness in the future. But while they are making strides forward, there is a long way to go. If these critical trends are not addressed with effective workplace strategies, businesses run the risk of having any short-term gains dwarfed by the longer-term costs, not to mention their increasing inability to attract good talent or address regulatory requirements.”

Businesses are unprepared for the workplace of the future
The survey revealed that businesses are only making slow progress towards achieving future-proof workplaces and are failing to modernize many essential processes. For example, only 29 percent of business leaders currently have a centralized approach to service and security management – hugely important areas to ensure consistency and control. While employees increasingly expect flexibility and mobility, less than half (42 percent) of organizations are able to provide Web portal based support services to provide ‘anywhere’ access to applications and services.

The absence of a workplace environment that is able to support new ways of working and evolving business practices is taking its toll, and is restricting businesses’ flexibility and agility. The findings show that nearly a quarter of business leaders questioned (23 percent) admit that their current approach is having a negative impact on helping the company adapt to a changing competitive landscape. Furthermore, 20 percent state that their existing workplace strategies are having a negative impact on their ability to accelerate time to market for new products and services. A further 18 percent say that it has a negative impact on retaining and attracting new employees.

Workplace technology is seen a barrier rather than an enabler to employee productivity
The effective use of technology is at the heart of successful digital workplace strategies, however many CXOs named technological factors as the key barriers to productivity they face. In fact, almost two thirds (63 percent) see interoperability with outdated technology as a major challenge to workplace productivity. More than half also cited the complexity of current workplace technology (57 percent) and a lack of access to the right productivity tools (55 percent) as major issues. A further concerning revelation is that the majority of organizations simply do not have a clear understanding of their current productivity levels, with only 17 percent using analytics tools across the business.

Security is holding businesses back
The threat of cyberattacks continues to grow in both scale and sophistication, and is impacting all industry sectors. Businesses have responded by investing heavily in cyber defense, but the study suggests that for many, the different levels of protection and authentication they have accumulated are acting as a throttle on productivity. More than half of study participants (56 percent) responded that their current approach to workplace security is having a negative impact on employee productivity, with 20 percent of the total sample base stating that it has a ‘highly negative’ effect. This is due to employees taking non-compliant routes and cutting corners when faced with complex or time-consuming security procedures and mechanisms.

Business leaders rank compliance with regulations such as the Global Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) as their biggest workplace security issue – 59 percent see it as a major challenge, ahead of location-based access and information sharing (58 percent) and identity management (58 percent). Security is also preventing businesses from taking full advantage of the latest generation of collaboration-based tools to drive productivity and social integration. According to the study, 41 percent of businesses have not yet deployed these tools with 46 percent naming security concerns as the main barrier.

Notes to editors1Fujitsu commissioned this research to gain an understanding of the extent to which organizations are preparing for the demands of the future workplace, and how business leaders are planning to transform and invest in their current workplace systems and processes in order to make them future-proof.
The study was undertaken July-September 2017 by PAC via briefings with 1,278 senior business and technology decision makers at large- and mid-sized commercial and public sector organizations in Europe, Oceania and the United States.

About Fujitsu

Fujitsu is the leading Japanese information and communication technology (ICT) company, offering a full range of technology products, solutions, and services. Approximately 155,000 Fujitsu people support customers in more than 100 countries. We use our experience and the power of ICT to shape the future of society with our customers. Fujitsu Limited (TSE: 6702) reported consolidated revenues of 4.5 trillion yen (US $40 billion) for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2017. For more information, please see http://www.fujitsu.com.

About Fujitsu EMEIA

Fujitsu promotes a Human Centric Intelligent Society, in which innovation is driven by the integration of people, information and infrastructure. In the Europe, Middle East, Africa and India region (EMEIA), our 28,000-strong workforce is committed to Digital Co-creation, blending business expertise with digital technology and creating new value with ecosystem partners and customers. We enable our customers to digitally transform with connected technology services, focused on Artificial Intelligence, the Internet of Things, and Cloud - all underpinned by Security. For more information, please visit http://www.fujitsu.com/fts/about/

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